Troop 11 backpacks 24 miles in White Mountains

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The Dedham Transcript

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Posted Jul. 21, 2014 at 3:18 PM

Posted Jul. 21, 2014 at 3:18 PM

MARBLEHEAD

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Marblehead's Boy Scout Troop 11 did a 20-mile backpack through the White Mountains over a three-day weekend at the end of June to prepare for a backpacking trip in August to the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, where they will backpack over peaks up to 13,000 feet in elevation and stay at National Park wilderness campsites.

On Friday June 27, the crew of 11 drove to Zealand Road, near Twin Mountain New Hampshire, to begin their trek. They then hiked up the Zealand Trail to the Ethan Pond Trail to reach the Ethan Pond Campsite run by the AMC. The day covered approximately 8 miles, and the hikers had to carry their tents, personal gear and clothes, food for meals for the three days, backpacking stoves and fuel, water-purification pumps and other crew gear. The typical backpack weighed between 35 and 40 pounds.

On Friday, hikers ate a backpacking lunch of beef jerky, cheese and crackers, potato chips and cookies along the way, and each hiker carried water for the day. Ethan Pond Campground has “bear boxes” so that “bear bags” to protect food and other “smell-ables” were not necessary. There is a very pretty pond at the entrance to the campground, the Scouts reported, which has leeches, trout and moose that regularly feed on the water plants. On Saturday morning, a moose was observed eating in the far end of the pond. Dinner at the campground consisted on freeze dried meals prepared by adding boiling water to the packages. Mashed potatoes and corn, also freeze dried, was also available.

Friday evening, a backpacking dinner was made in the cooking area of the campground. A separate cooking-and-eating area with bear boxes is used to keep food smells away from the tent areas. The small backpacking stoves, using white gas, can boil water in titanium pots in just a few minutes. The titanium pots are strong but very lightweight, according to the Scouts. Logs for sitting surrounded the cooking area and served as dinner seating.

On Saturday, after a backpacking breakfast of hot cocoa, oatmeal and cereal bars, water was pumped for a long day. The hikers continued on the Eathan Pond Trail to the loop of mountains Wiley, Field and Tom. The ascent is steep and rocky, and at one point, there is a series of ladders built from rough-hewn logs to reach the top of the ridge, the Scouts reported. Lunch was had between the first and second peak, where a gray jay landed on a tree nearby. When several of the scouts held their hand out with cracker crumbs on it, the bird landed on their hands and ate the crumbs.

Each of the three peaks was over 4,000 feet in elevation. After completing the loop, the scouts hiked down the A-Z Trail, which at the beginning is quite steep and requires scrambling over large rocks and boulders. After approximately 7 miles, and shortly before the Zealand Trail, a site with some level ground and about 200 feet off the trail was located to set up camp. Separate sleeping, cooking and bear bag areas were set up to keep bears away from the tents, set in a bear formation to avoid bears walking between the tents.

Page 2 of 2 - At approximately 5 a.m., a very large moose wandered within 30 feet of the tents. After another backpacking breakfast, it was approximately 3 miles to and down the Zealand Trail to the parking lot. The trail passes ponds, rivers and streams where it is not unusual to see wildlife. On the way back to Marblehead, the group stopped on the Kancamagus Highway at a very popular swimming spot to swim and slide down water slides over large rocks.